The Switch Between the Both of Them
by Carcoleghoast
Summary: Hermione comes back to Hogwarts to graduate, but this time without Harry or Ron beside her. As Hermione tries to attend Hogwarts without her two best friends, something happens during potion class and now Hermione has to survive in a certain somebody's body who calls her. . . a mudblood, and that certain someone also had to survive in her body too.
1. The Ex-Death Eater

Lucius Malfoy was laying near the corner of his cell where Draco Malfoy could only see his bare feet from the moonlight shining through the small bar window, lying limp on the cold and grey marble floor. It was dark and cold in the cell, despite it being summer.

"Are you going to let me see you?" said Draco.

His father said nothing. The air had a strange feeling of dirtiness between them.

Draco sighed. "Just come out," he said, "I want to know you're okay,"

It took his father ten seconds before he stood up and stepped into the moonlight. Lucius white hair was bright against the light, but it was scattered everywhere because it had been months since he last combed his hair, his eyes were dark and tired. His cheek was sunken into his skull as if he didn't eat anything for days.

"Do you," said Lucius softly, his voice sounded dry and parched, "do you really think I'm okay?"Draco knew he wasn't okay.

Lucius's hands tightened into a fist, shaking uncontrollably like he was given the Crucio Curse. "I'm in Azkaban, for merlin's sake!" His cry had a mix of anger and wanting.

Draco coolly stared at his father, trying to show no emotions upon his face. He wasn't going to show his dad that he was not a weak boy like before.

Lucius leapt forward and shook the cell's bar as hard as he could. The metal bar didn't move slightly. "I have a life sentence, boy!" he spat out. "And you're here to ask me if I'm okay?" His yelling echoed loudly in the cell. "Do you want me to be okay? DO YOU?!"

Draco didn't flinch an eye, but he turned around. He couldn't see his father like this. Even though he disliked his father very much, he couldn't see him like this.

"Are you ignoring me?" yelled his father. "You can't ignore me like that!"

"I visited mother," said Draco, ignoring him, "and she's doing fine."

"What does your mother have to do with this?" roared Lucius. Draco turned only merely back at him without empathy in his eyes.

"Everything," he said simply and turned away from him. "Good-bye father," he said and turned to leave. His father yells after him from behind sounded like yelling from under the water now. He doesn't want to listen to whatever his father had to say. He doesn't care about him anymore. It was his father's fault for doing this, for ruining his life.

He came out of Azkaban and apparated to the woods. Now that his father's mansion was taken away, Draco had nowhere to stay now. He went into his tent and collapsed on a nearby worn-out couch. If his mother was here, she would tell him to sit up straight. But she wasn't here, and Draco was still not getting used to her absence.

After Harry defeated Voldemort three months ago, Draco's parents were taken to Azkaban immediately, but they didn't take Draco with them because he wasn't an adult yet. They gave him one more chance, and Draco never felt so thankful for that. He couldn't imagine living in Azkaban for the rest of his life like his parents.

But even though he was free, he felt as if he should end up in Azkaban. Whenever someone sees him, they would back away and run away frightened, or give him the cold glances, just because he used to be a Death Eater. Draco personally doesn't blame them. If he was just a normal wizard who lives with a normal wizardry family, he would fear himself too. . .

Draco wanted to return to Hogwarts. He even sent them a letter if he can start over his year, but wasn't expecting to get a letter from Hogwarts anytime soon. They have perhaps already expelled him from ever going back there again. His life was ruined because of his parents.

Draco climbed off the sofa and walked outside of the tent. He needed some fresh air; he felt dizzy already by thinking too much about this.

He walked through the woods until he had to stop because of a dead-end of a mountain. He can see a beautiful view from where he was standing. There was a small town a couple of miles away.

Filthy muggles.

Draco stood on a large rock, feeling the warm breeze against his face hot face. He wasn't sure if he wanted to live anymore now that he was standing there. He took another step. The tip of his shoes was standing on nothing. If he just takes one more step, he would fall and plunge into his death. That doesn't sound as bad as living like this his whole life living in the woods like an outcast.

But he was an outcast, and he couldn't take this anymore.

And the view was breathtaking.

Before he took his one and the last step, he noticed a dark dot from the sky flying not too far away. Draco stopped himself and blocked the bright sun with his hands and squinted at the dot.

He watched as an owl flying towards him and has something its beak that looked like paper. . .


	2. Aboard the Express

"Good-bye" said Hermione as she kissed her mother's cheek and turned to kiss her dad's cheeks. "I'll miss you so much,"

"We'll miss you too, sweetheart," said her mother, pulling her into a tight hug. "Remember to send us a letter every week, okay?"

"I will," said Hermione, "but what about two letters every week?"

Her father kissed her forehead. "Even better."

When Hermione departed from her parents, she had to find platform nine and three-quarters. She had been coming to the train express so many times that she found the platform without any difficulty. She walked through the barrier and arrived at platform nine and three-quarters. The platform was crowded with wizards and witches, and Hermione never felt so happy that every was going to go back to normal. Since Voldemort was dead, Hermione could have a chance to study freely at Hogwarts without worrying too much about Harry. They could finally have peace.

"Hermione!" said a girl's voice from behind her. Hermione twirled around and saw Ginny Weasley running towards her with her trolley. "My gosh I miss you so much!" Hermione squealed and ran towards her. They both hugged and giggled. They ignored the staring eyes from the others.

When they both parted, Hermione looked around for Ron. When she didn't see him anywhere, she turned to Ginny. "Is Ron here?" she asked her.

Ginny shook her head. "He is busy being an Auror. . ." she trailed off when she saw Hermione's expression. "Ron never told you?"

Hermione sighed. "He didn't. He didn't send me a letter for a month now,"

Ginny pressed her lips together firmly. "I'll tell him,"

Hermione faked a smile. "No, no, it's fine," she said, "He was probably just busy,"

"What kind of boyfriend doesn't send letters to his girlfriend for a month?" said Ginny, "Even Harry send me letters every day!"

Hemione stayed quiet and looked down at her feet. Ginny was right, Ron was quiet, and it felt strange to Hermione that Ron didn't send her a letter for such a long time. "Here, let's put our trunks in the compartments," Hermione said, trying to change the subject. She doesn't want talk about Ron just yet; she was going to Hogwarts now. Why ruin her new adventure?

Hermione and Ginny climbed onto the train after putting up their trunks and tried to find a compartment to stay in for the rest of the day. "Here, this one is empty," said Hermione, peeking through one of the compartment's door.

She opened the door, and saw a blonde boy sitting near the door where nobody who looks though the compartment door can see him. Their eyes met and Hermione recognized those icy grey eyes.

"Malfoy?" Hermione reached down her robe for her wand but stopped there.

_What was he doing on the express train?_

Malfoy looked at her coolly. "Granger." he said, frowning at her, but he wasn't reaching down for his wand. Was he coming back to Hogwarts this year? Hermione eyes landed on his robe. He was wearing a prefect pin.

Before Hermione could say anything, she felt a pull from her hand.

Ginny pulled her out of the compartment and shut the door hard. "That Malfoy boy," hissed Ginny, looking at her hard, "He's still attending Hogwarts?"

"Apparently, yes," said Hermione. She didn't know what to think about him anymore after these three months. Yes, Malfoy did try to kill her, but she felt too tired to talk about him too. And he was wearing a prefect pin. Why?

"He's a Death Eater," said Ginny, trying to find another empty compartment room, "but Hogwarts still let him come here?" She slammed opened a compartment door and hastily sat down on the red bench. "He killed my brothers. . ."

Hermione entered the compartment door and gently closed it behind her. She wrapped her hands around Ginny's. "No, he didn't kill your brothers," she said. "And remember that Malfoy saved Harry?"

Ginny eyes softened a little, but her eyebrows were still frowning a little bit. Hermione noticed that her eyes were turning teary. Hermione sighed and pulled her into a hug. "I miss them too," she said. "Believe me Ginny. . ."

Ginny sobbed and hugged her back tightly. "I still can't believe they're gone, Hermione," she said, her voice muffled from Hermione's shoulders, "I – I can't . . ."

Hermione stroked her back in comfort.

Their compartment door opened. "Ginny, Hermione, hello!" said girl with long blonde hair, and walked in the compartment with her oversized bag. She hoisted her bag onto the luggage rack.

Ginny pulled away from Hermione and mopped her eyes with her cloth. "H-hi Luna," she said, and turned away quickly so that Luna wouldn't see her.

Hermione nodded towards Luna. "Hey Luna,"

Luna sat across from Ginny and opened a newspaper she was clutching close to her. Hermione read the large words printed on the front, announcing that there are _two _pairs of free Spectrespecs inside. Hermione guessed that Luna's father newspaper company was still doing very well.

The door opened again, and a round faced boy poked his head in. "H-hello. . ." He opened the door widely and shyly stepped forward.

"Neville!" said Hermione happily. It really felt nice seeing all the familiar faces again. "You should sit with us!"

Neville broke a smile and closed the door behind him and sat next to Luna, across from Hermione.

"Neville, how come you're back?" asked Hermione. "Didn't you go to Hogwarts last year?"

"Oh, about that," laughed Neville nervously, "Gran doesn't count last year as a school year for me, so she told me to start come back to Hogwarts. I s'pose I have to start over another year so that Gran would let me graduate. . ." he looked at Hermione, "Where's Harry and Ron?"

Ginny, whose eyes were back to normal, turned to Neville. "Harry is busy being an Auror, and Ron, well," - her eyes flinched towards Hermione for a moment, then back to Neville – "Ron's with Harry,"

"Really?" said Neville, leaning forward a bit with interest. "How are they doing?"

Ginny smiled. "They're doing fine," she said. "I just hope that they're okay,"

"I hope that they'll visit us," said Neville. "By the way, do you know that Malfoy is on board?" He shuddered. "I was trying to find you guys, and as I was walking around, I saw Parkinson walking into his compartment. . ." Neville looked up at the ceiling as if he was thinking hard. "And I walked by fast enough to find Malfoy sitting in there,"

"Did he notice you?" said Luna, looking up from her newspaper. "I thought I saw him too, but I wasn't exactly sure if it was him,"

Hermione nodded, remembering Malfoy's depressing eyes. "It was him. I accidently walked into his compartment,"

"So, he's going back to Hogwarts?" said Neville. "If Gran knows about this, she would take me back home immediately,"

"Then don't tell her," said Ginny, shrugging. "You need to finish your twelfth year anyway. . ."

Hermione remembered Malfoy's prefect badge. "Hey, do you guys know that Malfoy is a pref-"

Luna suddenly slammed her newspaper down and looked at the them wide-eyed. They jumped. "He's here!" said Luna. "I can feel his presence!"

"W-who?" Neville clutched the velvet seat, quivering. "You don't mean Voldemort, do you?"

"No!" said Luna mysteriously. "The Ragort! I can feel him!" She waved her hands around dramatically.

"What's a Ragort?" asked Neville, calming down a bit. Luna wide eyes met Neville's, and she began to lean towards him. Neville scooted back on his bottom until a wall blocked him from moving anymore. Their nose was almost touching. "The Ragort is invisible. . . " she whispered, her eyes locked with his. "He likes to annoy anyone he feels like are cowards,"

A sweat bead slid down Neville's red face. "O-okay,"

Luna backed away from Neville and looked around the compartment. "The Ragort is gone," she murmured, and picked her newspaper back up and read it as though nothing happened. Neville was still in his same position, looking terrified at what just happened.

Luna looked up from her newspaper to Hermione. "Oh, Hermione, you're a prefect?" She pointed at the pin on Hermione's robes. Hermione looked down at her pin and remembered. "Oh, I almost forgot. . . I have to go to the prefect carriage,"

Ginny, who got Hermione's plan, jumped up from her seat. "Ah, right, I just remembered I'm the head girl. . ."

Neville stood up stared at them helplessly as they leave the room. "W-wait – "he nervously glanced at Luna and then back at Hermione and Ginny. "You two will come back, will you guys. . .?" His face turned redder.

"Oh yes, we will," said Ginny, taking notice of Neville's face, "It will take at least twenty minutes,"

Neville trembly nodded and slowly sat back down on his seat, looking down at his fidgeting fingers.

When Hermione and Ginny closed the door behind them, they looked at each other and giggled. "Don't you think that Neville was kind of overreacting?" asked Ginny as they walked down the train toward their station. "I don't know, but Neville probably has some sort of interest for Luna,"

Hermione nodded. She suspected about Neville and his thoughts on Luna. After what just happened a minute ago, and his very blushed face, her suspicions were probably correct. If Luna and Neville ended up becoming a couple by the end of the twelfth year, what an odd match it would be. But of course, in a good way.

They walked into the prefect carriage, and Hermione noticed Malfoy sitting on the prefect chair for Slytherin, and next to him was Pansy Parkinson; she was leaning slightly towards Malfoy, but Malfoy was leaning away from her, his eyes were looking down at his lap. She was smirking at Hermione and Ginny as though anyone would love to sit next to Malfoy. Hermione nearly scoffed.

When Ginny and Hermione sat down, Ginny leaned over and whispered, "Why is Malfoy a prefect?" She sounded confused and worried.

Hermione wasn't sure herself, and it worries her. It felt strange for an old Death Eater to become a prefect, especially since Malfoy was siding with Voldemort during the final battle against Harry. "There's probably a reason," whispered Hermione, "maybe he – "

"Changed?" interjected Ginny, her eyes darted at Malfoy for a moment, then back to Hermione's. "Maybe, but would he really change in three months?"

Hermione stayed quiet because the head boy had just entered the carriage. Ginny stood up and followed him behind the table to start their rules. Maybe Ginny was right; Would Malfoy really change in only three months alone? Most likely not. She had to keep an eye on Malfoy, just in case.


	3. Draco POV Aboard the Express

Draco stood outside of platform nine and three-quarters, staring at the wall. A few muggles passed him, giving him odd looks. They were muggles, so he didn't care what they think he was.

He felt a tap on the shoulders, and he turned around to find an elderly muggle looking at him with concern. "Are you alright, young man?" she asked in a tired way. "Are you lost?"

Draco glared at her. "Don't touch me," he said, wiping his shoulders. "Filthy muggles," he said under his breath. The lady gave him a strange look but walked away without  
another word, glancing back at him a few times.

He turned back around and stepped through the barrier, not caring if the muggle was looking, and the vision of the red express train appeared in front of him. The platform was crowded with witches and wizards, and their heads were already turning towards him as if they knew he was going to come in any moment. Draco sensed deadly glares in every direction as he passed through the crowd, and the crowd parting as though if they touched him, something horrid would happen. Draco caught the word "Death Eater," multiple times until he reached the train and put his compartment in.

A first-year boy was next to him was also putting in his own luggage next to him. Then, the boy turned and looked up at him. "Hey, why is everyone giving you those looks?" he asked, looking around nervously at the glaring eyes.

"It's. . . It's nothing," said Draco surprised. For the first time, someone was talking to him. "You really don't know?"

"I don't know," said the boy shrugging. "I'm a muggle-born, so I have no idea what's going on in this world," he squinted up at him. "Are you a bad guy or something?"

Draco felt his hands clenching. A Mudblood. "No," he said coldly, ignoring the boy's curious question, and he turned around and strolled away without looking back the boy.

Draco climbed onto the train and began looking through doors for an empty compartment. Almost of the students were staring at him with a suspicious glance. Whisperings about him was dancing around him, and he walked faster to get away from them.

He finally found an empty compartment and shut himself in it fast. A couple of students was looking through his compartment door, so he sat near the edge of the seat behind the wall to keep himself hidden. Don't those people even know how much he wanted everyone to stop seeing him as a Death Eater? For merlin's sake, he almost committed a death to himself. These people have no shame.

The compartment door opened, and a brown and curly haired girl walked in, not noticing he was there, and she was not looking at him. Draco recognized her immediately. It was Hermione Granger, the Mudblood he hated most.

Hermione turned and looked at him, her mouth slightly parted and her brows knitting together just barely. "Malfoy," Her voice had a mix of shock and disgust. Draco noticed her hand reaching for her wand, but he didn't break his eye contact with her.

"Granger," he said coolly. Hermione paused her hand on her wand and looked at him for a moment, and her eyes slowly went down to his prefect badge on his robe and back up at his eyes, but this time with a curious look on her face.

The second curious look today, both by Mudbloods.

He noticed someone's hand reaching out toward Hermione and snatched her out of the compartment fast. Draco leaned out to see what was going on, right in time when he saw the Weasley girl shutting door right in his face.

"That Malfoy boy," he heard the Weasley girl said through the door, "He's still attending Hogwarts?"

"Apparently, yes," he heard Hermione said. He felt his stomach churning, like as if he was hoping for Hermione to see him as normal.

No, he doesn't want to hope, not now, not ever, especially for a mudblood. He doesn't care about Mudbloods. Really, he doesn't care.

The door opened again after a few seconds and Pansy walked in excitedly. A wave of very strong perfume that smelled like flowers filled the room.

"Draco!" she cooed, set herself down next to Draco. "I heard everyone in the train saying that you're attending Hogwarts again!"

Draco resisted the temptation to roll his eyes. "And why are you back?" he asked, his eyes not meeting hers.

Pansy didn't seem to hear his question. "I saw that filthy mudblood walking in your compartment," She spat the word 'mudblood' as if it was poison. "What did she want from you?"

"She thought this room was empty," Was he actually defending the mudblood now? "She didn't want anything from me,"

"That Weasley girl did looked like she wanted to kick your face," said Pansy. She wrapped her arm around his. "But I'm sure you can take care of yourself," she said softly reaching out to play with his hair.

Draco removed himself from her. "Don't touch me," he said coolly. He was sick of her touches. He didn't get why he let her use him so many times before.

Pansy eyes widened slightly in confusion. "Oh. . .Okay," She scooted inches away from him.

There was silence for a minute until Draco said, "Are the others going to come?"

Pansy was obviously satisfied that Draco was talking to her. "Yes! Theodore Nott will be here a few minutes late, and Blaise will come any moment,"

The compartment door opened, and Theodore and Blaise walked in the tine compartment with their luggage. "Hey, Draco nice to see you back again," said Theodore, hoisting his luggage onto the rack overhead, and sat across from Draco. "Any news, everybody?" he asked.

Blaise sat down across from Pansy. "Oh, there is some news," he said. "Do you guys know that there is another Triwizard Tournament this year?"

Pansy looked at him excitedly. "Really? Isn't it supposed to be next year?"

"Yeah, but they decided to put it up a year early because. . ." he stopped himself glanced at Draco, who was staring at the floor. Blaise firmly pressed his lips together and said  
nothing more.

Draco looked up at him. "Because?" he said.

Blaise eyebrows rose, but he continued, "Because of Voldemort's death and the victory of the wizardly world," He sighed. "I supposed that's great since we can compete this year,"

"I'm going to put my name in," said Theodore smiling, stretching his legs out in front of him. "I always wanted to compete in that tournament,"

"Me too," said Blaise. He turned to Pansy. "And you?"

"Duh, of course," said Pansy, rolling her eyes. She crossed her arms. "I mean, this is once in a lifetime, right?"

The three of them turned to Draco. "What about you, Draco?" asked Blaise calmly as they waited for his answer.

Draco found himself smiling a little. He stopped himself. "Yeah," he said. "I will."

Pansy stood up from her seat. "I have to go to a meeting," she flashed her prefect badge at the boys proudly.

"Draco has one too," pointed out Theodore, noticing Draco's badge on his robe. "You should go too," he told him.

Draco stood on his feet. "Yeah," he said and opened the compartment door. Pansy followed him happily.

When they get to the carriage, Draco sat where he was supposed to sit. Pansy plopped herself next to him. She was leaning toward him slightly, but he tried his best to lean away.  
They were a bit early, so everyone wasn't here yet. After a moment, the carriage door opened and the Weasley girl and Hermione Granger walked in. Draco tried not to look up at them. It was not surprised to him that Hermione was a prefect. Gryffindor does like Mudbloods anyway. . .

The head boy walked in. The Weasley girl stood up and went up to the front of the room next to him. Draco guessed that the Weasley girl was the head girl.

Draco found himself sitting straighter. But why?

Oh, that mudblood was looking at him.

The mudblood. . .


End file.
